The match: 2-0
Spending a weekend in London at the beginning of August is often a good idea. The weather is usually nice and sunny and English fans never turn down the chance to spend time in a football stadium. It was in the jovial and family atmosphere of the Emirates Stadium that Olympique Lyonnais played their sixth and final preparation match against Arsenal in the Emirates Cup, a friendly trophy.
Deprived of their Olympic vice-champions Alexandre Lacazette and Rayan Cherki, who benefited from a few days of rest after their great blue epic, the Lyonnais experienced an ordeal in the first half, stifled not by the heat of the English capital, but by the intense pressing of Mikel Arteta’s men who deprived them of the ball for a good half hour. The Gunners took them by the throat from the kick-off and never let go and concretized this domination by the opening of the score of William Saliba on a corner from Declan Rice (9th).
Outclassed in all areas of the game, Lyon conceded a second goal from a corner, with the same Rice leading the way for Gabriel’s header, the other Gunners central defender who got ahead of Corentin Tolisso (27th). The score could have been much higher if the Londoners had been more precise (3rd, 15th, 18th, 23rd, 35th) and without two huge saves from Clinton Mata on Gabriel Martinelli (26th, 31st). At the same time, OL had two very timid opportunities through Saïd Benrahma who didn’t get his shot on target (40th) then Georges Mikautadze who missed his shot at the end of the most convincing move of the first half on the Olympian side (42nd).
2
Lyon have only lost two of their six warm-up matches. This Sunday, therefore, against Arsenal (2-0) and against the Germans of St-Pauli (1-0). They have also recorded three victories against Chassieu (7-0), WSGT (3-2) and Union Berlin (4-0) and a draw against Torino (0-0).
The second half started on the same basis as the previous one with a shot off target from Mikaudatze (49th) to which Martin Odegaard responded, forcing Perri to deploy to get his shot off a cross from Martinelli (50th). In the process, Thomas Partey (53rd) then Kai Havertz (54th) did not find the target then Saka hit the post (55th) giving the Rhone players a little more heat.
After letting the storm pass, Benrahma took his chance from afar but his 25-meter shot ended up in the stadium stands (60th). Jorginho, who came on in place of Partey (77th), in turn called on the OL goalkeeper who deflected his cross shot into a corner (83rd). On the following counterattack, Ernest Nuamah, who had replaced Abner (65th), lost his duel against Raya when he had been ideally launched by Lucas Perri (84th).
Although Lyon did not concede another goal after the break, they displayed worrying defensive shortcomings in set pieces. But they still have a week to fine-tune these final details before the restart in Rennes next Sunday.
The player: Mikautadze did not weigh in
In the absence of Alexandre Lacazette, Georges Mikautadze was once again in the starting line-up at the forefront of the Lyon attack, flanked by Saïd Benrahma and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. The summer signing was starting his second match after the 4-0 win over Union Berlin and did not have an easy afternoon against the Saliba-Gabriel duo.
There was indeed this attempted lob on Raya at the start of the match, but it did not come to fruition (2nd) any more than his recovery following the excellent cross from Maitland-Niles who did not do much else well against his former club (42nd). Not stingy with effort, he was unable to find the solution and saw his shot on the turn go well over Raya’s goal (49th). He was replaced by Orban in the 65th minute, no doubt a little frustrated by his match.
